Many containers have been devised for collecting waste oil as the oil is drained from the crankcase of an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle. Crankcase oil is routinely and periodically drained by removing a drain plug from an opening in the crankcase, at the bottom of the engine. A container is placed beneath the crankcase to catch the oil as it drains. After the oil is drained, the drain plug is replaced and fresh oil is poured into a fill opening on the engine. The waste oil is then discarded.
Environmental concerns now dictate against the formerly common practice of disposing of waste oil on the ground or otherwise directly into the environment. Waste oil is now preferably either recycled or disposed of in an environmentally safe manner. Therefore, containers have been developed which allow either collection of oil in the container and subsequent storage of the collected oil directly in the container or transportation of the oil to an oil recycling facility for recycling. After the waste oil is poured from the container at the recycling facility, the container is again available for use.
Such prior art containers have been limited to collecting oil from the crankcase of relatively small engines, such as the type of engine used in a passenger automobile. A passenger automobile engine typically has a capacity of four or five quarts of oil. When drained from the crankcase into a container, four or five quarts of oil weighs less than 20 pounds including the container. A container full of waste oil weighing 20 pounds is readily carried by an individual user to the recycling center or other storage facility. Twenty pounds is also light enough so that an individual user can easily lift and pour a container full of four or five quarts of oil to empty the container at the recycling center.
However, large vehicles, such as the truck tractors used to pull semi-trailers and construction equipment including bulldozers, backhoes and the like, have engines which hold much more oil than an automobile engine. Such engines may have a capacity of fifty quarts of oil. Fifty quarts of oil and a suitable container weighs approximately 200 pounds. A container holding waste oil and weighing 200 pounds is too heavy for a single individual to lift. Also, a container holding such a quantity of oil is too heavy for comfortably and accurately pouring the contents. Such a container is too heavy for even two individuals to easily carry and maneuver.
Moreover, a container large enough to hold fifty quarts of oil may be difficult to maneuver when empty. This is especially true when placing or removing the container under the vehicle. Because the crankcase drain plug on the vehicle is generally located in the center of the vehicle, the container must be placed approximately under the center of the vehicle. Since a vehicle such as a truck tractor or bulldozer is very large, maneuvering the container to locate it under the drain plug may be difficult while standing on the ground adjacent the vehicle. Accurate positioning may require laying on the aground adjacent or even under the vehicle to place the container under the crankcase drain plug.
In addition to maneuvering the empty container, such a large container may be difficult to maneuver when partially or completely full of waste oil. Since lifting a 200 pound container is impractical, the container may have to be maneuvered across a variety of surfaces, including concrete floors, blacktop driveways, gravel driveways, packed or soft dirt and grass.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a container for collecting, storing and transporting large quantities of waste oil from the crankcase of an engine.